Kindness
We have a rather easy and simple schedule of practices at the Amitabha Stupa:
Sunday 4pm : Shower of Blessings Tsog
Wednesday at 6pm : Amitabha and Chenrezig practice
Saturday 4pm : Amitabha and Chenrezig practice
Wiggleworm and his “Mom”, Mary, waked up on the 19th just in time for the Amitabha and Chenrezig practice (see post below). On Sunday, not really cognizant of our practice schedule, they happened to walk up just as we opened the Shower of Blessings Tsog. She remarked how odd that both times they had come to the Stupa we were practicing. Then today they were back in time for the 6pm Amitabha and Chenrezig practice.
I am really happy that these practices are accessible to people like Mary who are not Buddhist practitioners per se but have the karma to get to the Stupa.
Our Lama, Jetsunma, has remarked that our job as Buddhists is to open as many doors as possible for people to connect, and that the connecting may not necessarily mean that in this lifetime everyone will practice as a Buddhist. There are several hundred that are in our sangha, or who have come through, that will practice as Buddhists in this lifetime. However, for our hundreds in the US and Australia, there could easily be thousands that will come to the Amitabha Stupa this year and most will not be Buddhists (we can spot the ones who are by the way they prostrate or make use of a mala!). How fortunate that, by the simple act of seeing the Stupa, walking around it, or even joining in a practice there, a connection is made with one’s karmic potential to be of benefit to all sentient beings.
Being a monk in robes I do wonder if the “casual” visitor wonders just how far into it one must go to be a Buddhist – would I have to shave my head and wear yellow shirts and burgundy robes!? From His Holiness the Dalai Lama directly the instruction is this: there is no need to change your religion, just practice kindness. Have a kind heart. Be a kind person.
Think about your day-to-day experience and think where there are opportunities to focus on practicing kindness and if you did would change your perspective or attitude. You know what I mean: in those situations where we are a grouch, or get angry, or want to blame others. The difficult moments and situations, this is probably where His Holiness is directing our attention. Be kind there. You are probably kind elsewhere, so go where it will stretch you.
Visiting our Stupa or any Stupa, is visiting a sacred spot. It’s been consecrated. Prayers are made there, they are embedded in the folds of the landscape by now. The Stupa draws us to our innate kindness, so people feel good when the come to the Stupa. Catalyzing this innate kindness will bring ultimate happiness to themselves and to others, the type of happiness that is the natural result of practicing kindness as His Holiness instructs.
Not in any magical way, this is what happens when people like Mary happen upon the Stupa and find they like to return again and again. It’s a matter of one thing causing another: prayer and meditation causes kindness! What more perfect spot for this than a Stupa?
As for Wiggleworm who knows whether the Stupa has the same effect, but I have to hope so! I do notice that his tail wags constantly and when he “joins” in the chanting there seems to be a distinct tone of satisfaction to his howl!
By this effort may all sentient beings be free from suffering!
Sunday 4pm : Shower of Blessings Tsog
Wednesday at 6pm : Amitabha and Chenrezig practice
Saturday 4pm : Amitabha and Chenrezig practice
Wiggleworm and his “Mom”, Mary, waked up on the 19th just in time for the Amitabha and Chenrezig practice (see post below). On Sunday, not really cognizant of our practice schedule, they happened to walk up just as we opened the Shower of Blessings Tsog. She remarked how odd that both times they had come to the Stupa we were practicing. Then today they were back in time for the 6pm Amitabha and Chenrezig practice.
I am really happy that these practices are accessible to people like Mary who are not Buddhist practitioners per se but have the karma to get to the Stupa.
Our Lama, Jetsunma, has remarked that our job as Buddhists is to open as many doors as possible for people to connect, and that the connecting may not necessarily mean that in this lifetime everyone will practice as a Buddhist. There are several hundred that are in our sangha, or who have come through, that will practice as Buddhists in this lifetime. However, for our hundreds in the US and Australia, there could easily be thousands that will come to the Amitabha Stupa this year and most will not be Buddhists (we can spot the ones who are by the way they prostrate or make use of a mala!). How fortunate that, by the simple act of seeing the Stupa, walking around it, or even joining in a practice there, a connection is made with one’s karmic potential to be of benefit to all sentient beings.
Being a monk in robes I do wonder if the “casual” visitor wonders just how far into it one must go to be a Buddhist – would I have to shave my head and wear yellow shirts and burgundy robes!? From His Holiness the Dalai Lama directly the instruction is this: there is no need to change your religion, just practice kindness. Have a kind heart. Be a kind person.
Think about your day-to-day experience and think where there are opportunities to focus on practicing kindness and if you did would change your perspective or attitude. You know what I mean: in those situations where we are a grouch, or get angry, or want to blame others. The difficult moments and situations, this is probably where His Holiness is directing our attention. Be kind there. You are probably kind elsewhere, so go where it will stretch you.
Visiting our Stupa or any Stupa, is visiting a sacred spot. It’s been consecrated. Prayers are made there, they are embedded in the folds of the landscape by now. The Stupa draws us to our innate kindness, so people feel good when the come to the Stupa. Catalyzing this innate kindness will bring ultimate happiness to themselves and to others, the type of happiness that is the natural result of practicing kindness as His Holiness instructs.
Not in any magical way, this is what happens when people like Mary happen upon the Stupa and find they like to return again and again. It’s a matter of one thing causing another: prayer and meditation causes kindness! What more perfect spot for this than a Stupa?
As for Wiggleworm who knows whether the Stupa has the same effect, but I have to hope so! I do notice that his tail wags constantly and when he “joins” in the chanting there seems to be a distinct tone of satisfaction to his howl!
By this effort may all sentient beings be free from suffering!
posted by Gonpo Yeshe (David) Williams at 11:04 PM
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